U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner along with two other House freshmen are calling on the GOP presidential candidates to tone down their rhetoric against capitalism and the free market.

WASHINGTON — Some freshmen Republicans don’t like the tone the GOP presidential primary has taken.

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, along with two other freshmen Republicans, penned a letter to the six main presidential candidates Friday asking them to halt on the attacks on market capitalism.

“We already have a president who is making it increasingly hostile for businesses to operate in this nation,” the letter said. “Our presidential candidates should not be doing the same. Class warfare is a tactic that President Obama has used to divide America and campaign against Republicans.”

In recent days, presidential candidate underdogs former Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have railed on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for his leadership at Bain Capital. (Sometimes they call him out directly, sometimes their super PACs do it.) They say that Romney, who is the frontrunner in the race, added to the hardship of hundreds of working Americans by consolidating troubled companies that lead to layoffs. Romney released a 30-second ad today in defense of his business record.

“I’ve had it with candidates who want to beat Barack Obama by trying to be Barack Obama,” Gardner said today. “They’re helping draw a narrative that he’ll use in November.”

It’s not the first time in 2012 that Gardner has become somewhat of a vocal thorn for the GOP establishment. He said last week that he was angry at leadership and called on all House Republicans to be “for” something and to push a more positive message.

Cory, the American version of Capitalism is not functioning properly. It once functioned in a healthy, equitable manner where workers were paid a living wage, companies made profits, and CEOs made a comfortable, but not outright disgusting amount of money. What we have today has morphed into such a hideous all out assault on workers, that we all need to reevaluate profits over people.

RustyCannon

Capitalism isn’t under assault. There are those who create and produce products for sale. Then there are those who use loopholes in the laws to extract capital from the producers while producing nothing themselves. That is the brand of capitalism that is increasingly under scrutiny.

Burdening an already struggling enterprise with crushing debt, and then firing workers to lower the overhead simply to make the books look good in the short term so that investors can skim a profit and head on down the road is not the American way. That is simply legalized theft. It is the moral equivalent of picking the pocket of a disabled person.

Defending that practice by lumping it together with old fashioned entrepreneurial hard work and claiming that the critics are attacking our capitalistic roots is simply dishonest and a bald faced way to mislead voters. But I wouldn’t expect anything else from Mr Gardner.

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.